A groundbreaking book about the modern presidency, The Clinton Tapes invites readers to witness a private dialogue between a historian and his friend, a gifted, tormented, resilient president of the United States. The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of America in the King Years, Taylor Branch here tells what Bill Clinton thought and felt but could not say in public—the result of 79 sessions over his eight years in office, recorded as impressions by Branch immediately after each meeting.

"A remarkable portrait of White House life ... [and] an important work about American political life.... Branch is an historian by trade, and an excellent one.... To the extent that Branch's portrait of the president rescues politics from ignominy, he has done a real public service; that he has done this while vividly portraying an exuberant American original is cause for joy.... Revealing and often delightful."—NYTBR